Primeros pasos hacia la inclusión: actitudes hacia la discapacidad de docentes en educación infantil

It is considered that the most effective way to create a more just and egalitarian society is an inclusive school that guarantees all children, regardless of their characteristics and educational needs, the right to quality education (UNESCO, 1994). One of the essential elements when conducting an educational inclusion is the attitude of teachers. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the early childhood education teachers’ attitudes toward students with special educational needs. To this end, it was applied the scale ot attitudes towards disabled people to 78 early childhood education teachers, from 14 centers in the province of Granada (Verdugo, Jenaro& Arias, 2002). From the results it can be concluded that there is generally a positive attitude towards disability, being teachers of second cycle of early childhood education those with more positive attitudes. The results are discussed, and we conclude that we offer a pioneering study in its field, since no research has been found that addresses both cycles of Early Childhood Education. This allows to analyze if the teachers of this stage have the necessary training to carry out a quality education for all the students. The need to focus on this stage lies in its preventive nature, because the inclusive education as prevention for social exclusion is the most effective means of combating attitudes of discrimination (Echeita, 2006).